Sr. Forum Moderator

Okay, that was pretty good. I’ll admit, I almost immediately saw what was going to happen, even before they showed the real inspector, but it was still great. The humor was there, and the plot was a great fit, although the “friendship lessons” do seem to be missing… Also the simultaneous plots, where we already know what’s happening on Spike’s end, worked really, really well, and this episode explained why they were only there for one day, too.

EDIT: Apparently her new fanon name is Chickadee. That’s what Derpibooru is tagging her as. Also, she may be a Chicken Little reference, with her fear of ceilings and her cutie mark.

Conversationalist

This episode was predictable, but still very funny. I was actually hoping that the games wouldn’t go to the Crystal Empire, cause, you know, everyone screwed up so bad. Still, since we didn’t get an episode last week, I was really happy with this one.

Conversationalist

Not really, I’m not one of those people who get overhyped up for the fanmade content (it’s good but I’m not going to obsess over some of this stuff…..like I forgot Hotdiggedydemon was still making SWAG.Mov lololololololol) so really seeing all these fan projects getting C&D’s really doesn’t bother me in the slightest…Now the show itself getting the plug pulled instead of finishing Season 4 THAT would piss me off.

Conversationalist

Not really, I’m not one of those people who get overhyped up for the fanmade content (it’s good but I’m not going to obsess over some of this stuff…..like I forgot Hotdiggedydemon was still making SWAG.Mov lololololololol) so really seeing all these fan projects getting C&D’s really doesn’t bother me in the slightest…Now the show itself getting the plug pulled instead of finishing Season 4 THAT would piss me off.

Interesting seeing how most people make up the pony drought by looking at fan content.

Iamslow

Deactivated

Not really, I’m not one of those people who get overhyped up for the fanmade content (it’s good but I’m not going to obsess over some of this stuff…..like I forgot Hotdiggedydemon was still making SWAG.Mov lololololololol) so really seeing all these fan projects getting C&D’s really doesn’t bother me in the slightest…Now the show itself getting the plug pulled instead of finishing Season 4 THAT would piss me off.

I wish I still cared that Hotdiggedemon was doing stuff lololololol.

@new episode

How come nobody thought it was weird how the pony that they thought was the games inspector had chickens as their special tallent?

Also Pinkie describing the round room and dash sliding down the window were my favorite parts.

Conversationalist

This episode got me rolling on the floor like an idiot, and I love it when shows do that to me. I like episodes that get wacky and all fun times. This episode felt really loony-tunish, a term I just made up. I give it a…

Conversationalist

Nice episode, kinda obvious about what would happen, but nice.@Advancey☾: Ooooh, I’m excited! No matter how it ends, it still will be pretty awesome! And, do we really need Miss America? Like REALLY?
(obligatory GIF)

Forum Moderator

This episode was really entertaining, and I really love how this episode and last episode intertwined. The episode was obviously predictable, but I don’t really care because that’s like half of the episodes for me. I think my biggest complaint about this episode is just how… unfunny Pinkie was. I mean, dear lord it’s like the writers didn’t know what to do with her anymore and so they kinda just threw in cheap gags. That really makes me sad, because Pinkie is one of my favorite ponies and I want to see the writers do more with her. On the other hand, I thought Rainbow Dash and Rarity were hilarious in this episode and those two tend to be the characters that writers seem to have the hardest time doing right! I will also agree that the facial expressions in this episode were fantastic, especially Shining Armor’s. In the end, there was more good in this episode than bad and I will definitely give this episode two thumbs up!

Addressing the current Hasbro C&D’s: Yeah, it really sucks, but I think we need to be reminded that Hasbro has the complete right to issue them. This doesn’t mean they’re money grubbing whores, it means that Hasbro wants to protect the image of/the profits made from their own property. Hasbro has been extremely generous with what they will allow bronies to create, and it seems that some of us have become a little spoiled because of it. Hasbro obviously cares about us, guys, but they have to put their profits first. It’s just business sense.

Conversationalist

Just watched it. A few parts were pretty funny (Pinkie Pie getting tossed back by the party cannon, RD crashing, etc.) Didn’t have many qualms with it, and I liked how we got more world building (MOTHERFUCKINGMUSTANGS!)

As for Fighting is Magic…

Well, I was looking forward to it, but not entirely for the ponies. It looked like an interesting fighting game on its own merit, so I think I’d still play it if they had their own original characters (Blilight Sparkle, Balrity, etc.) Either way, I can’t really blame Hasbro. Copyrights and trademarks are tricky, and the EVO deal could have been enough to force them to take action or risk losing the exclusive rights to MLP.

What I’d like to see is Hasbro buying licensing Fighting is Magic, the game selling for a few dollars or something, and Hasbro getting a large chunk of money. Mane6 gets rewarded for development (legitimately), the game releases, and Hasbro profits.

Forum Moderator

What I’d like to see is Hasbro buying licensing Fighting is Magic, the game selling for a few dollars or something, and Hasbro getting a large chunk of money. Mane6 gets rewarded for development (legitimately), the game releases, and Hasbro profits.

I think this would be ideal for all parties involved, but I wonder if Hasbro would actually be comfortable with having their name attached to a game with ponies fighting. Ah well, one can dream.
I think copyright laws are more to blame in this situation than Hasbro is. Sure, Hasbro was the one that issued the C&D, but at the same time they were probably worried about protecting their property.

Conversationalist

Nice episode, kinda obvious about what would happen, but nice.@Advancey☾: Ooooh, I’m excited! No matter how it ends, it still will be pretty awesome! And, do we really need Miss America? Like REALLY?
(obligatory GIF)

Oh, and before someone says HASBROHATE US, look at this:

Can you see it? MUTHAFUCKINGCHRYSALISANDNIGHTMAREMOON!

OMG Hasbro hates us so much! We don’t care about side characters (or god forbid, background characters shudder in fear) we like the characters that are made solely to make toys like Baby Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle and don’t forget Princess Skyla, everyone loves that bundle of joy!

Conversationalist

I’m glad a lot of people on Derpibooru has moved onto the Alicorn Twilight drama. I’ve seen less “Thanks M.A. Larson” gifs being made, and most of the bronies have accepted the fact that Twilight will an alicorn in the series finale.

Conversationalist

I like the tie-in with the last episode, although that would be awfully predictable since most of the fandom was (ahem, would be) curious about what happened on their visit to the Crystal Empire.
The face to glass smearing with Rainbow Dash was hilarious, Pinkie Pie acted like Darth Vader, RD now has a canon relative, and Scootaloo has a mother (cwatididthar?).

Scrapbooker

As a big fan of fighting games, the news on Fighting is Magic is just depressing. Seeing one of the biggest and most anticipated fandom projects getting cut down this close to completion after about two years of work being put into it is the LAST thing I needed to see from Hasbro after all their recent decisions. The first thing I did after hearing about the cease and desist was download the leaked version. One way or another, I’m playing this game. Fuck the police.

It’s really cool of Ms. Faust to offer Mane6 use of her other original characters for another game. Ponies in a fighting game was part of the appeal, and it may be another two or three years before the mane6 crew could finish a different project, so I’m pretty distraught either way. Still, I know I’d play a Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls fighter from these guys. You know it would be fun with mane6 at the helm, you can’t doubt Lauren Faust’s ability to make intriguing characters, and she could get some well deserved publicity for her pet project.

But seriously,

what the fuck Hasbro?

Just buy licensing and release this game like Explosive says. I need Fighting is Magic to tie me over until the release of Galaxy Girls Brawl: Tournament Edition.

Conversationalist

…Yeah… I’m just going to say, that one shouldn’t judge the episode based on a toy.

Of course, there’s something else to say here…

Lots of decisions can be made to sell toys, but what can make all the difference is some passionate creators insisting on a specific way on how its done.

Twilight didn’t just get turned into an Alicorn the moment this season started, and more importantly, they made sure to seed in as many hints as they could to Twilight’s ascension as possible, while (Possibly) tying in a couple of major figures to play a role in it.

So with a bit of finesse, and some Luck from the fact that Twilight already being practically the chosen one for two other things of great magical importance [Celestia’s Protege for being Strongest Unicorn ever, but needs control. As well as being a bearer of a Unique Element of Harmony] They may just pull through this.

…Maybe anyways… Can’t be sure though. But I have a massive supply of hope with which to carry me through this.

I can’t say whether it will be the greatest episode ever, but it doesn’t need to be… I don’t think. But considering the amount of effort they probably put into making sure this doesn’t fail, I have a good feeling that whether just good or great, they’ll pull through.

Of course that’s mostly all it is, a feeling. But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t trust it. Because if I’m wrong, no harm done, not more than normal anyways. But if I fall to pessimism, I’ll only cause myself pain that wasn’t necessary if it goes right, and more pain than usual if it goes wrong.

I know all that isn’t entirely focused, so here’s my point in Brief: Lighten Up Every-Pony.

Conversationalist

Dan, the only hunk of plastic I give a crap about in that pic is the one in the far left of the package
Finally more moon horse
Also why the hell is Nightmare Moon in a set titled “Elements of Harmony Friends”
I’m all for more moon horse but at least put her in a villain set >_>

Conversationalist

I’m glad a lot of people on Derpibooru has moved onto the Alicorn Twilight drama. I’ve seen less “Thanks M.A. Larson” gifs being made, and most of the bronies have accepted the fact that Twilight will an alicorn in the series finale.

Ahem, season finale.

@Twilicorn toy, You have to admit that’s some pretty snazzy technology in that toy. I could do without the speech but the whole moving head and eyes while the wings and horn glow and her wings flap when you ‘fly’ her is alright for a My Little Pony toy of all things (where they used to just sit there and say “Aren’t my wings pretty?”). I don’t care what everyone else thinks about Twilicorn but I’m totally buying that for my niece day 1. Now before you say this guys, I am seriously getting this for my niece, if I’m ever getting myself Pony merch it’s from WeLoveFine or if I go to HotTopic to pick up bestpony Rainbow Dash Vinyl figure.

@Fighting is Magic, Meh the developers knew the risks and hell even the fans knew the risks at the beginning, why people are so surprised about this now of all times I don’t even know. If you want to read some lulz worthy posts go on Equestria daily and you’ll see one guy go ballistic and say he’s going to boycott all Pony Merch (lol) until Hasbro comes to their senses and lets them release Fighting is Magic. Then whenever someone tries to mention copyright and trademark issues this guy calls bullshit and claims that they’re just some brainwashed sheep. Some guy even made a note about how Hasbro lost most of their G1 ponies (AKA mane reason why Rainbow Dash isn’t ‘Firefly’ like Lauren wanted her to be) due to not protecting their copyright and this guy is like “No everyone knows that’s bullshit, you’re a liar because Hasbro are run by greedy bastards yadda yadda yadda”.
I think I’ve had more fun reading some of the drama in the past few weeks than I ever would’ve had with Fighting is Magic (no offense to Mane6 but I’m just not a big fighting game fan anymore, I can hardly even play Mortal Kombat anymore!)

@New Episode, I loved it. I loved to see RD and Rarity get some development while this episode has had the greatest facial reactions in the entire series. The Story was a little predictable (aka just like quite a few great episodes released, did anyone think Rainbow Dash was going to pick any pet that wasn’t Tank the second that guy put those sunglasses on during the song in ‘Find a pet’?) Mainly only a few jokes fell flat, and I honestly don’t see why people weren’t a fan of Pinkie in this episode. Most of the time she was pretty damn funny (The Rotunda and her explaining the ‘Round room’ always fucking gets me) where her only tryhard parts were during the dramatic noooooooooo scenes. Especially her scene when she is talking about where to find the games inspector at the end. Only negative thing I say about Pinkie Pie is the fact that some of the writers need to remember that Pinkie Pie isn’t a Looney Toons character, she’s just a free spirit that knows how to break the rules of life.
All in all I think this was a nice way to bring a calm to the storm so to speak before Twilight officially becomes Princessy. Could’ve been better but all in all I think it was one of the finer episodes of the season. Besides who can hate Prince Shining Armor’s ROYALCRYSTALEMPIREVOICE

Commentator

You know, I’m really sick of hearing people defend Hasbro at this point. I was willing to tolerate changing Twilight into an alicorn because it merely offended my sense of aesthetic. Seeing Hasbro send a cease and desist letter to Mane6 however has offended my sense of justice. It was unfair and fucking cruel.

First off, it’s inconsistent. Hasbro has done nothing in response to 99.99% of fanmade content out there. In that percentage is included the .mov series, all of the plushies and figurines that Deadparrot has spent thousands of dollars on, and COPIOUS amounts of rule 34. The only other thing Hasbro has sent a cease and desist letter against was the Lyra plushie, and there’s a pretty big goddamn difference between the Lyra plushie and fighting is magic. Hasbro has given no general pattern of cease and desists that make it clear they don’t want a certain type of fan content made or even issued a statement directly stating they don’t want a certain type of fan content made. How the fuck was mane6 even to suspect that Hasbro would lawyer up on them?

Hasbro also let MONTHSANDMONTHS go by where this game was in development and being talked about without saying a word. They let these poor guys waste all their time before telling them to piss off and go fuck themselves.

I understand that the way the law works sometimes has to be less than ideal and there’s really nothing we can do about it, but I want people to acknowledge what a gross impediment of justice this is and spit at Hasbro. Look at the two parties here. Mane6 is composed of people who love the show and spent years of unpaid time producing a product to freely share with other people who also love the show in the spirit of generosity, laughter, and friendship.

Hasbro coldly and callously censored their work because market analysts suggested the game might negatively impact sales of My Little Pony™ by .0371%. These fucks are selling a show based on it teaching an ethics they clearly don’t give a shit about. Jesus Hasbro, even a soulless computer gives a fuck when it contradicts itself.

Database Moderator & Ponyologist & God Tier Swag

What we’re speaking of here is a trademark infringement (not a copyright infringement, they’re different). Trademarks don’t expire, you just lose them when something becomes common use. As per U.S. Trademark law, as soon as an infringement comes to light, they are obligated to defend the trademark, or they will lose it. And with Fighting is Magic having a high chance to appear in that event (forgot name), you can understand issues will arrive.

Hasbro loves bronies, but they do not love us enough to give their copyright over MLP just to protect a fan game. They’re a company, not a charity, and such a reaction is only natural. It’s the same reason for the takedown of MLP Online. They had no choice in the matter, regardless of what they thought of the project or how it would effect their sales.

Do you want that to happen? Do you want Hasbro to lose its copyright over MLP?

Commentator

What we’re speaking of here is a trademark infringement (not a copyright infringement, they’re different). Trademarks don’t expire, you just lose them when something becomes common use. As per U.S. Trademark law, as soon as an infringement comes to light, they are obligated to defend the trademark, or they will lose it. And with Fighting is Magic having a high chance to appear in that event (forgot name), you can understand issues will arrive.

Hasbro loves bronies, but they do not love us enough to give their copyright over MLP just to protect a fan game. They’re a company, not a charity, and such a reaction is only natural. It’s the same reason for the takedown of MLP Online. They had no choice in the matter, regardless of what they thought of the project or how it would effect their sales.

Do you want that to happen? Do you want Hasbro to lose its copyright over MLP?

Thought so.

Could you please link to relevant materials? I’d like to investigate this for myself.

Forum Moderator

Well, Fifths, just as you are sick of people defending Hasbro, I am sick of hearing people demonizing Hasbro. How exactly is the Lyra Plushie different from Fighting is Magic? Both were most likely C&D’d in order to protect the trademark’s image, the only difference was a lot of people were anticipating Fighting is Magic for a long time and for all we know Hasbro was taking that time discussing whether or not they should send a C&D to Fighting is Magic. Of course Hasbro is inconsistent about what they allow and what they don’t allow, but with copyright laws as fucked as they are can you really blame them? RandomMan also brings up a very good point about the possibility of Hasbro losing its trademark if Fighting is Magic continued. I’m sorry, as much as I would love to view Hasbro as money-grubbing whores I just can’t see the logic in making such assumptions. There is no “injustice” in this scenario. It sucks that it happened, but Hasbro had every right to do it.

Commentator

Yeah…I just read the wikipedia page on Trademarks and trademark maintainence and…yeah… Well that really takes the wind out of my sails, who do I blame now?

Still, even though it turns out that Hasbro did have some good reason for the C & D letter, I still don’t understand why they took so long to send it out. They should have at least sent Mane6 a warning early on as they were getting popular that if their game started getting too big, there was a very real possibility they would have to take action against it.

This entire situation just stinks.

@Verbose below

Yeah, I agree I took a bit of a purile view on who to blame. Hasbro doesn’t fit the mold of the stereotypical mustache twirling villains I wanted them to.

I still feel completely right about being mad at the situation though. It’s unfair that while everyone else gets to make their MLP fanart because it’s inconsequential, the guys who are putting out a truly superior and celebrated product get shut down because of some legal knots they might have accidentally tied while doing it.

It was easier when I could just blame the evil corporation. Now the only thing I have to complain about is this miasma of U.S. intellectual property law, and that isn’t nearly as satisfying.

Verbose

Deactivated

Your jimmies seem to be rustled. I have a rule of thumb: whenever an argument uses “fucking” as an adjective or an adverb, I can usually guess that there are some issues in the argument due to anger. You’re normally pretty good at not getting wrapped up in “shoulds” and “oughts.”

I understand that the way the law works sometimes has to be less than ideal and there’s really nothing we can do about it

So you acknowledge that this is an issue of law and who’s property it is. And I believe it’s a sound enough law considering law is rarely perfect or ideal. It’s not Mane6’s property, and they understood the risks. Hasbro acted in interest of their property. They can do that, because it’s their property. Period. I don’t get mad at what someone does with their own stuff as long as it doesn’t hurt others.

but I want people to acknowledge what a gross impediment of justice this is and spit at Hasbro.

I don’t feel the need to spit at Hasbro, because of what you said in the same sentence. They can do whatever they want with their property.

Like, I have job applications to fill out and stuff. This new Fire Emblem is awesome. I have to scratch my butt every once in a while. My frustration and thoughts lies in other places than at some company doing business.

I feel bad for Mane6, like I feel bad for banning Advance. But at the same time, the laws/rules are based in logic. We can’t run off the majority of people who view our galleries at KYM, so we developed rules and guidelines for NSFW content and X-rated content. Hasbro had the rights to My Little Pony, and other people cannot use it without their permission.

To be honest, if they were that afraid of this, then all they had to do was ask.

Or better yet, not hype up a game that wasn’t finished yet. If they didn’t have a site amping it up for years, they would have been able to release the game and then it would be out there for people to play regardless of any Cease and Desist order.

Don’t blame Hasbro for doing business. Blame Mane6 for being a little naive on the matter. Great developers, I’m sure. But they misplayed this from the start.

If you or anyone else is wondering why it took so long for the order to come down, then either my or Crazy☾’s explanation might work.

Mine is that Hasbro had to act as soon as they realized that their property was generating money in order to protect their property (i.e., Donations given to the EVO event, it is irrelevant that Mane6 didn’t get this money. Hasbro had no control over where money being generated on their property was going.)

In this instance, Hasbro waited until now to act, because the thousands of dollars raised outside of Hasbro’s hand exceeded a legal threshold.

Crazy☾’s explanation is similar, but he focuses less on defending the rights to the property and more about reputation of the brand, I think (e.g., it was getting too much press outside of Hasbro’s professional PR hands, the actual characters being presented in a directly violent context (different from the show where most violence is slapstick,) if the showing at EVO fell flat, then it might reflect poorly on Hasbro or the My Little Pony brand, etc.)

In this instance, the EVO hype was a little too much My Little Pony hype considering that Hasbro couldn’t control the appearance of their brand on such a big stage. There’s a difference from stray R34 on Furaffinity accounts and tumblrs, and show-style presentations at large commercial events.

It’s just a bad situation. Hasbro is no more evil or greedy than they were before the whole brony thing.

Remember all of that stuff Hasbro did for the brony community? Even with the current takedowns, know that you can’t find DBZ episodes or Gravity Falls episodes on YouTube. We’re always able to find episodes on YouTube of FiM.

All those conventions with sweaty geeks with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic on it? (Don’t even play, I went to a Bronycon, there were a lot of sweaty geeks, I was one of them.)

The Season One disc set that, according to the purchasing habits of the target demographic, wouldn’t sell was given a green light?

The use of a fandom name on a toy in Steven Magnet? (The target demographic won’t even care about the one water dragon thing from the second episode. The toy and the name is for one periphery demographic…)

Hasbro is doing all that I could expect and more. People just feel entitled, I think.

Editing in Rarity for no good reason except Rarity is Best “No good reason.”

Sr. Forum Moderator

The purpose of a trademark is to defend your specific intellectual property, in a field of similar IPs. In this case, we’re talking about My Little Pony as opposed to the other brands of multicolored equine toys. As it is now, they have a trademark for My Little Pony, which means that should someone make a direct copy of an official Twilight Sparkle doll, or use the My Little Pony name on unofficial merchandise and pass it off as official merchandise, then they can sue them, etc. This is why a lot of art and fanworks have the “MLP TM Hasbro/Faust” disclaimer.

However, Hasbro can hypothetically lose their trademark, through abandonment (denouncing the MLP brand, or stopping production of anything in it), genericity (where the public sees My Little Pony as being a name any multicolored equine toy, this happened to Thermos, Cellophane and Aspirin) or improper licensing or assignment (if Hasbro let someone else make MLP-branded merch, but it didn’t supervise production and the contractor makes something entirely different from Hasbro’s vision).

To prevent this, they can sue for Trademark infringement – the main factor for their case being “likelihood of confusion” – in other words, whether the product would cause customer confusion as to its source or the sponsorship or approval by the trademark holder. Usually, this also includes the profit involved, but it doesn’t have to. Unfortunately, Fighting is Magic was in a very grey area when it came to the likelihood of confusion – it used Hasbro’s proprietary characters, but was not affiliated in any way with them, and never really said what the long-term plan was, financially, or how the end product would be distributed. Hasbro was just covering their bases before they had problems. From a business standpoint, it makes perfect sense. From a fan’s standpoint, though, it really, really sucks, and I’ll be frank with you – I see their reasoning, but I’m still pretty pissed.

Commentator

Alright, I’ve been reading up on this stuff and I’m still a little confused. Perhaps you learned gentlemen can help clear this up for me.

Okay, the first thing I’m having trouble understanding is why Hasbro has a Trademark on mlp as opposed to a copyright. Trademark seems to apply only to products, which makes sense when you consider the toyline, but since mlp is also a show with a substantive creative content beyond mere goods and services, shouldn’t they also have a copyright as well? Furthermore, wouldn’t having a copyright allow Hasbro to maintain rights to mlp without the law forcing it to jealously guard said rights when a possible challenge is brought up?

My other question is why does Fighting is magic present a substantive threat to mlp’s brand exclusivity such that if Hasbro doesn’t take action against them, it could be considered grounds for forfeiting their rights, but ALL the other mlp fan stuff out there doesn’t? Hasbro is very clearly aware of all the other stuff out there and some of it is quite significant, and yet they are happy to turn a blind eye if not directly endorse it. Why is Fighting is Magic so exceptional?

Sr. Forum Moderator

Copyright applies to the specific product, say, the Princess Twilight Sparkle doll. Trademark applies to the MLP IP. Copyright defends from bootlegging of their prodcuts – they have the right to copy their own designs, or license those designs to contractors. Trademark defends the brand as a whole, or specific marketing pieces, such as the logo, the slogan, etc (for example, Nike’s “swoosh” and the JUST DO IT. slogan.)

Even if they lost tradmark, they could still defend copyright, for example, defend against fakes of the aforementioned Princess Sparkle toy. They just could not sue others for use of the name “My Little Pony”.

As for Fighting is Magic… To be honest, I think it was the fan project that got the most attention, even in the mainstream, and also the one that was most likely to go for-profit. Yes, I know, it probably wasn’t going to, but it had a better chance than, say Fallout: Equestria.

Conversationalist

Verbose

Deactivated

Okay, the first thing I’m having trouble understanding is why Hasbro has a Trademark on mlp as opposed to a copyright. Trademark seems to apply only to products, which makes sense when you consider the toyline, but since mlp is also a show with a substantive creative content beyond mere goods and services, shouldn’t they also have a copyright as well?

I think one is a greater level of protection that the other? So anything protected by copyright is also protected by trademarking.

Furthermore, wouldn’t having a copyright allow Hasbro to maintain rights to mlp without the law forcing it to jealously guard said rights when a possible challenge is brought up?

From what Twilitlord summarized, it seems like trademark law forces Hasbro to defend its property in this instance while mere copyright does not.

But without the trademark, Hasbro has no protection against any entity, fanmade/non-profit or professional/commercial, from making something like Your Pretty Horsies which is similar to the idea of “My Little Pony.” Even though it’s a unique idea with a unique market, other companies might be able to threaten their customer base on the uniquely owned idea with mere copyright.

Trademarking seems to prevent that, but it also requires Hasbro (or prompts them) to be much more proactive in matters such as this.

Twilitlord actually read it. He may have to answer you. I’m going by his overview.

My other question is why does Fighting is magic present a substantive threat to mlp’s brand exclusivity such that if Hasbro doesn’t take action against them, it could be considered grounds for forfeiting their rights, but ALL the other mlp fan stuff out there doesn’t? Hasbro is very clearly aware of all the other stuff out there and some of it is quite significant, and yet they are happy to turn a blind eye if not directly endorse it. Why is Fighting is Magic so exceptional?

Bigger press that Hasbro had no control over.

Hasbro has PR people controlling how they want their property presented.

In small things like fan art, it isn’t feasible for them to attack all of it. There’s simply too much for anyone to address. It also isn’t a widespread, mainstream presence. The presence of stray R34 or gore art isn’t a meaningful threat to the perception of the MLP brand.

The featured article from Gamespot and the EVO donations of thousands of dollars is too large and mainstream for Hasbro to not have control over it.

A lot of the conventions probably have some Hasbro control over it. For example, at Bronycon, no R34 could be seen in public. If it was to be sold, then you had to ask for the content specifically. And all of the the cast and staff have to get Hasbro clearance to attend. It wouldn’t surprise me if Hasbro actually got a cut of the price of admission.

Ponyologist & Plush Master

Most of the other points have been sufficiently covered by Random, Verbs, and Twilit so I’ll just hit one little thing.
The fact that Hasbro has C&D’d only a few times (Mane6, MLP Online, Lyra plush, that on episode torrenting site… I really think that that’s it) is actually kind of a good thing in a certain light.
I think it shows that Hasbro is essentially only issuing these things at the point that they are given no other choice, legally.
Why haven’t they cracked down on people selling fanart or my beloved plushies?
Because they don’t want to unless they have to.
Compare that to Disney who will immediately crush just about any unauthorized work relating to their properties and you should see that Hasbro has actually been relatively lenient.

As Twilit pointed out in the law, they just have to step in in cases where their brand is in danger of becoming ‘generalized’ or ‘confused,’ as too much confusion as to the source of a brand is probably one of the early warning signs of generalization.
Mane6 had gained too much attention as ‘that My Little Pony game’ to avoid the ‘confusion’ aspect and got knocked down.
Popularity in this fandom can be a major double-edged sword, but again, Hasbro has been pretty good about staying their hand when they can.

More M.A. Larson:
And then back to classic Larson:

In other news, I finally updated my comic with the help of some of your suggestions from the other day, and here’s what I consider to be the finished version: Heartbreaker
As my first comic, I’d love to hear what you guys think!

Scrapbooker

I am sick of hearing people demonizing Hasbro. How exactly is the Lyra Plushie different from Fighting is Magic?

One of them is a game that, like the show, was intended to be fun for all ages, guys and girls.

The other is a fucktoy.

Know the difference. It could save your life.

@Legal mumbo jumbo

These guys spent countless hours across the span of two years, tirelessly working on a project devoted to My Little Pony, with no prospect of ever earning a cent for their hard work. And Hasbro shut it down anyway. I don’t see how anyone can actually bear to say they’re within their right, true or not. The young men who poured so much work into this project deserve more than this, and seeing Hasbro treating their own customers in such a manner is absolutely detestable. I don’t want to hear excuses, I want to see this situation rectified. Even if they absolutely can not allow the release of Fighting is Magic, Mane6 deserves some form of compensation for working so hard and promoting their brand. Even if it is just by legal standards, I find their mistreatment unjust by moral standards, and I will not be happy with Hasbro until they at least make some feasible effort to make things right. At the very least, they should give them more free merch than physics brony , apologize for the issue, and wish them well in their endeavors with Faust should they choose to produce a new game for her. Or, you know, they could go the smart route and just hire these guys.

After all, it’s the least they could do after ruining the show and making Twilight an alicorn, directly undermining Faust’s vision for the series.

Sonata Dusk

Deactivated

Alright, I’ve been reading up on this stuff and I’m still a little confused. Perhaps you learned gentlemen can help clear this up for me.

Okay, the first thing I’m having trouble understanding is why Hasbro has a Trademark on mlp as opposed to a copyright. Trademark seems to apply only to products, which makes sense when you consider the toyline, but since mlp is also a show with a substantive creative content beyond mere goods and services, shouldn’t they also have a copyright as well? Furthermore, wouldn’t having a copyright allow Hasbro to maintain rights to mlp without the law forcing it to jealously guard said rights when a possible challenge is brought up?

My other question is why does Fighting is magic present a substantive threat to mlp’s brand exclusivity such that if Hasbro doesn’t take action against them, it could be considered grounds for forfeiting their rights, but ALL the other mlp fan stuff out there doesn’t? Hasbro is very clearly aware of all the other stuff out there and some of it is quite significant, and yet they are happy to turn a blind eye if not directly endorse it. Why is Fighting is Magic so exceptional?

Copyrights tend to be single-focused. You need a new one/variant for every deviation from a subject. This has better protections for your merchandising, but for companies like Hasbro it can be a pain in the ass with the sheer number of products produced. It also limits the ability of third parties to produce officially-licensed items. Benefit of it though is that it blocks unofficial merch if it’s deemed too similar.

Trademark covers a wider arena. Any use of “My Little Pony” is subject to Hasbro’s trademark on the “My Little Pony” IP. They don’t have to file out specific variant copyrights, they just have to stamp the name on the product. If a third party gets approval, they don’t have to fill out as many forms, and just add the name. These are less protected though, as a name and product variation can prevent the IP recognition and allow off-brand merchandising. Any unauthorized use can be taken down with a quick-and-easy C&D order.

A good example is Hasbro’s Monopoly. Think about how many different versions there are, and imagine the difficulty in copyrighting all of them (especially when they change year-to-year). Use a trademark however, and all you need to do is give approval to the production company. People want to play Monopoly, not the off-brand “Property Investment Game”.

I hate trying to type on this tablet. So slow and difficult to edit sentences.

Database Moderator & Ponyologist & God Tier Swag

As Twilitlord explained in his post, Fighting is Magic was a really grey area. How it would be distributed, where it would be released for, if the creators would earn money with it (and if so, how much). The long term plan for the game was really vague, and they used Hasbro’s characters while not being affiliated with them.

Trademarks rights must be maintained through actual lawful use of the trademark. It is not necessary for a trademark owner to take enforcement action against all infringement if it can be shown that the owner perceived the infringement to be minor and inconsequential. If the infrightment however reaches a point to which the owner “must” be aware of it, not taking action can result in serious issues. Add to this that if there was an intention to deceive, this will severely damage in an infringement lawsuit.

That was the case with Fighting is Magic. Whereas they can easily turn a blind eye to your everyday fanart, with Fighting is Magic becoming as big as it was (that event and stuff), it is no longer possible fro Hasbro to ignore it. At a point like that, they pretty much “must” be aware of it, and ignoring it will bring serious risks with it.

For example: Remember plush creator WhiteDove? She received message from Hasbro to remove all her comission prices on DeviantArt. Now what needs to be pointed out here is that WhiteDove delivers quality plushies that sell for over $1000. That is no longer a “minor” or “inconsequential” infrightment, this is big money. It would be impossible for Hasbro to not be aware of this.

Then there’s also the fair use defense (we’ll use Copyright for this instead of Trademarks, but they cover the important sections similarly), which in the copyright laws include commentary, search engines, criticism, news reporting, research, teaching, library archiving and scholarship. Parodies and art can commonly be filed under commentary and criticism, and therefore are not an infrightment of copyright. The law actually protects fanart, because they are valuable. But in cases like Fighting is Magic which was really vague on the long term, or WhiteDove’s massive plush income, this can no longer be applied.

For example to the last part, Hasbro tried a C&D against the G.I. Joe PSAs in the past, but failed because these works fall under the criticism section of the fair use defense. People weren’t creating these parodies so they could profit from it, they just wanted to make funny parodies.

But that’s also why episodes uploaded to Youtube can be taken down, as these are not parodies but the actual unedited episodes. Would a person apply a voice-over to the episode, it would fall under parody, and through the fair use defense not be able to be taken down by Hasbro. That’s why things like YapLap’s screaming voiceovers are still allowed to exist.

Sr. Forum Moderator

The problem is, the legal world isn’t that forgiving. Sure, it’s disappointing to see the project end like that, but it doesn’t change the fact that Hasbro legally had every right to stop it. For that matter, they could have stopped it any time in the last 2 years, along with .MOV, FiW (that was due to automatic censorship and is technically still within Fair Use, besides, Hasbro hasn’t gone after their site yet), all custom model makers, Deadparrot’s plush artists, Veggie55, and Blackgryph0n. Pretty much all of those people are disassociating the IP with the trademark. Compared to, say, Viacom, Hasbro is extremely lenient when it comes to trademark enforcement. They’ve allowed all of that, and given so many nods to the fandom (actual Derpy figurines, Steven Magnets, the countless nods this season alone) that there’s no way they’re hating on us. The times they have used C&Ds have been when it seriously impacts their trademark (the Lyra) or their business (torrenting site).

And besides, as soul-crushing as it is, Hasbro owes them nothing.

EDIT: Something I forgot to mention is that copyrights naturally expire, but cannot expire in the same way that trademarks do. Instead, copyrights last until the death of the creator plus 70 years (although this keeps going up because Disney doesn’t want to lose their copyrights – they seriously have that much political power) or, if it’s anonymous or for-hire work, which is more what we’d probably be interested in here, specifically for-hire, 120 years after its creation.

Here’s a video by one of my favorite youtubers talking about copyright, I don’t think he gets into trademark, though.

Deactivated

We at Super Smash Ponies have done some reading up on this stuff, since we’re so concerned about it ourselves. First thing to note, one does not lose a trademark by failing to enforce it. The founders of the SSP project felt confident enough at the start because Hasbro was being much more lax at the time, and, pivotally, Nintendo rarely pursues action against those infringing on its trademarks. There have been plenty of Nintendo fan games, based around all sorts of franchises. Shoot, to my knowledge, Nintendo didn’t take too much issue to PETA’s Pokémon game.

A trademark is only lost “through abandonment, improper licensing or assignment, or genericity.” We all understand the ideas of improper licensing and genericity, and we know that the My Little Pony trademark was not licensed to Mane6 nor has it become a generic name for fighting games or toys for little girls, so the real grey area is abandonment, which many people take to mean failure to enforce. Abandonment is generally dealt with on a case-by-case basis, but generally refers to a trademark falling into disuse by the company that owns it. It has nothing to do with allowing or disallowing another group to use your trademark for, say, a fan-made fighting game.

Now, let’s be honest; Fighting is Magic is very clearly trademark infringement. However, Hasbro has no legal obligation to pursue them for this. They allowed them to continue for almost two years, until EVO finally acted as the kicker. Fighting is Magic raised over five thousand dollars, and a lot of that was probably donated simply because pony, and had no other legitimate reason for wanting to see FiM at EVO. Five thousand isn’t a lot to a big company like Hasbro, but it represents a substantial interest for such a small project, interest that could easily be commercialized. Even if Mane6 clearly stated they had no intention of monetizing the project, the risk could have seemed too great to Hasbro.

I’m not trying to demonize Hasbro here, but I’m saying I don’t fully agree with the legitimacy of their cease-and-desist orders to Mane6, and I’m pointing out that a lot of the fandom’s defenses of Hasbro are not entirely accurate.

So yes. Sad ponies all around. The new episode was pretty good, though.

Well, screw all my future plans. I should become a professional animator by day and a copyright lawyer by night.

Conversationalist

So, I heard Rarity was in vogue now, as ever. About time you infidels realized who best poni was.

Wait wha? They shut down Fighting is Magic? Waaaaah :(.

I can’t say much given my lack of information regarding ponies in the past few months, but really, I almost expected it to happen. The team tried the best to keep it up with the constant “no donations” thing, but I guess it couldn’t hold out for that long.

Such a game, while probably being amazingly awesome, was clearly against Hasbro’s best interests imo. After all, don’t they have that Gameloft thing out? They’re pretty much in direct competition, from a legal point of view.

I don’t think it’s fair for them to just shut down 2 years of work like that, though. Ugh. Maybe Hasbro could like, recruit the guys? Make it commercial? There’s clearly demand for something like this, and I can see this possibly making a ton of money. Hell, with a full dev team behind it, they could probably get it done in a few months (because Hasbro makes really awesome video games right).

Scrapbooker

The team tried the best to keep it up with the constant “no donations” thing, but I guess it couldn’t hold out for that long.

Considering the donations went to breast cancer research and not Mane6, that really only makes the shut down that much worse. :/

Pleasure to see you again, though! Haven’s seen you in a while.

So, I heard Rarity was in vogue now, as ever. About time you infidels realized who best poni was.

I, for one, welcome our new fabulous overlord.

@Twilitlord

You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know. Maybe if it was Super Smash Ponies getting shut down when it’s 90% done and Exudes getting this pitiful treatment at the hands of Hasbro, you’d understand my point. It’s not all about legal matters, it’s about how these people are being treated. If Exudes is right about the laws regarding the trademark, this only makes their decision all the more troublesome.

@New episode

Most of my opinions have already been covered. Rarity and Rainbow got some better use of screen time than usual, Pinkie seemed a bit off (which is weird considering this was from Polsky), and it felt like just a filler episode. Also, the plot was WAAAAAAAAAAY too predictable. And the decision to host the games there didn’t make much sense to me, either. And I was disappointed to see the mane six without the crystal effects. Working the last episode into the writing was a nice touch though.

Not really a bad episode, but nothing of extraordinary merit stuck out either.